With the exception of the crazy minister lady, so far the teacher seems to be the nuttiest and meanest of all. I mean it's obvious that the moms are all trying to live vicariously through their daughters, but so far they seem more clueless than cruel.

I don't understand why all these little girls seem to be in full makeup 24/7. Do they do pageants on the side as well?

Having done the low level competition circuit when my niece was dancing, this show brings back not so fond memories. Some of the dance moms and teachers are just whack, with no skills other than forcing their precious little ones on the rest of the unsuspecting world.

I saw the first episode of this last week. Apart from the factor of the moms, the thing that struck me is that none of these girls are very good dancers. They don't seem to have any strong basics - all they do is gymnastics tricks with some vaguely dancy-type moves in between. Which I guess is the norm for the type of competitions they go into, but I wouldn't call it "dance". Those moms are seriously deluding themselves if they think the tens of thousands of dollars they are investing in their daughters' training is going to pay off with a professional dance career in the future.

And, OK, this is mean, but does the teacher have assistant teachers or something that actually demonstrate the moves/choreography to the kids? Because she looked like she was getting winded just standing around and yelling.

And, OK, this is mean, but does the teacher have assistant teachers or something that actually demonstrate the moves/choreography to the kids? Because she looked like she was getting winded just standing around and yelling.

Click to expand...

I was wondering that as well. That woman does not look like she can do anything she is asking those kids to do.

You would be totally amazed at the number of dance studios there are all over every city, town, and burg. There are a few systems where the teachers must be certified, but not many. Any fool with enough money for rent can hang out a shingle. And because so many parents will just say "Oh, I'm taking Sally to Miss Coochie's School of Dance because our next door neighbor goes there..." well, it's like quality is not an issue. Just neighborly compitition or convenience. The majority of these schools couldn't teach a dog to pee, much less give a child the basics they need to build on for dance. I've been watching this all my life.

Rhee Gold, who is the publisher of Dance Studio Life Magazine and a truly good guy, wrote a big message on Facebook yesterday saying how this show was terrible for the industry and a mockery of what dance schools should be. It represents the lowest of the low.

I'm not about to watch it. I'm having a hard time watching SYTYCD this year as it is. Not that I'm comparing the two-far from it.

I mentioned this in another thread the other day! CRAZY!!! The instructor is wacko and a complete biatch. I would never let some fat whale yell at me while she huffs and puffs as she sits down. I know, maybe she has a thyroid disorder, but that is the first thing that comes to mind when I see her.

I also noticed the girls couldn't really dance. One or two of them were really quite awful. I don't get that. I also question the reality in this show, though. So many realities shows are no longer reality, it is all created and cast with real people to avoid having to pay people and to cash in on the reality craze. A friend of mine just filmed a show for something about Southern Weddings and the people getting married were not in a relationship (they were lesbians so the wedding wasn't binding in any way) but just wanted to do the show. The pay out for them was a free day in New Orleans and a huge party that cost them nothing with all the alcohol one could want. None of it was "real" though.

Rhee Gold, who is the publisher of Dance Studio Life Magazine and a truly good guy, wrote a big message on Facebook yesterday saying how this show was terrible for the industry and a mockery of what dance schools should be. It represents the lowest of the low.

Click to expand...

I pretty much agree. This show makes me think Lifetime is desperate for programming ideas. Unfortunately, train wrecks attract audiences.

I now REALLY appreciate the rules in ballroom that limit/penalize makeup and "inappropriate" costuming in the youth categories.

Did anyone want to slap the mother with two girls where the older daughter is CLEARLY no longer interested and wants to do cheerleading instead? But no, Mom wanted to dance, ergo daughter has to stick with it (and play second fiddle to Younger Sister.)

I caught this show last night and what a massive trainwreck. Which obviously means I'll be watching. The opening part with the pyramid and new routine every week seemed really staged.

I know next to nothing about the world of high level competition dance (other than having some family friends who are in with a supposedly great school) is this school really as elite as they want us to believe?

It'll be demoralizing watch a teacher berate her students until they cry, and pit them against each other with that pyramid of 8x10's.

Click to expand...

That's the biggest issue I have so far. As a rower, intrasquad competition was unavoidable so you could get the fastest people in the top boats. Luckily (most) all of us were old enough and mature enough to understand the big picture which was team success and why that made the competition necessary. These kids are young and I don't see how pitting them against each other so obviously will make them better individual dancers or a better dance group. If they could only have 5 dancers and there were 6 girls in contention I could see why you might have some sort of audition until you picked group, but to be so blatant with a pyramid? The girls are going to hate each other and that's not going to help performance.

If it's a real school, it's an all comers operation. The pyramid just proves it. In a "real" school, students are assigned to classes based on ability, the top students aren't bullied by the staff, and the kids look more like kids.

Finally saw the first episode tonight: OMG on the group dance number. OMG on lots of other stuff already mentioned in this thread. I wish they would piggy back this show with another dance series focusing on a Rhee Gold approved school.

That's the biggest issue I have so far. As a rower, intrasquad competition was unavoidable so you could get the fastest people in the top boats. Luckily (most) all of us were old enough and mature enough to understand the big picture which was team success and why that made the competition necessary. These kids are young and I don't see how pitting them against each other so obviously will make them better individual dancers or a better dance group.

Another facet of this and a huge difference is that you have young girls not just doing athletic movements, you have them focusing on their looks, their faces, their bodies, their costumes and makeup as an essential part of their whole package. It isn't simply about who is the best dancer. These other things do enter into how they feel about themselves, and I think it can be very damaging if handled the wrong way. Nothing wrong with wanting to have a great costume and look pretty. But being fixated on one's own looks and competitive about these looks is not good. Especially since many of these dancers are so very young, and the current styles of costume and choreography are pretty sexual many times, it's disgusting.

I guess when you're older and on SYTYCD it's ok to show your crotch continuously to the audience, as if we wanted to see it. As Patsy Stone so aptly put it, "The world is your gynecologist!" I wish to God the "tilt" had never been invented. There's plenty of ways to show flexibility without creating a camel toe for the whole world to see.

This "school" is such a joke. The school where I send my daughter for summer dance camp, all the instructors are serious dancers and can do everything they ask the students to do. They also take input from the students about choreography and NEVER ask them to do things they aren't comfortable with.

I watched this show and my first instinct was the hitch kick the teacher/owner right in her smug face.

Re: the costumes, I recall that there was a YouTube video circulating last year of a performance of seven or eight year olds dancing to Single Ladies at this school in CA(?). They were wearing VERY inappropriate outfits and doing wild moves. I think the video ended up on the morning news shows eventually before things died down. I wonder if the producers of this show got the idea from that? Outrage sells after all.

The most upsetting thing in all of this isn't the dance teacher, although she is a bitch to th nth degree. My problem is with the mothers who have deluded themselves into believing that the degradation of their daughters is a necessary trade-off for their own personal failures and shortcomings. I understand wanting success for your children, but not at the expense of their mental/physical well-being. And in-fighting among the mothers perpetuates all of this. The mother of the child who is the "best" has a tilted view of the world, really believing that her kid is "better" than the others. And the mothers clamoring for their kids to be in that position is sick.

You want your children to have what you did not but forcing them to participate in an activity you missed out is not about the child at all. When I heard Chloe's (?) mom going on about that I thought she really believed she was doing what was best for her daughter. Deluded indeed.

ok, I gave in and watched an episode on hulu. these people have to be acting this way on purpose, right? there's no way that the new mom would continue to be so "oh, you mean no one will help me with the luggage? No one will sew the costumes? I have to ride on a stinky bus?". The whole leaving one set of luggage on the pavement until after everyone is on board and ready to go was completely scripted.

I feel sorry for the kids.

I also looked up the website for this Abby Lee person and it is a nightmare of epic proportions. An abomination of website design. It reminds me of a bottle of Dr Bronner's Castile Soap, with all the random crazy saying written every which way I did eventually find a page with info about staff, and Abby is listed as "Director, Choreographer, Instructor" while all the other teachers list what classes they teach. I think Abby does not teach any dance classes, she drives the organization, creates the crappy dances, and probably does some one-on-one coaching for the dancers in the company. All in all - ICK.

I also looked up the website for this Abby Lee person and it is a nightmare of epic proportions. An abomination of website design. It reminds me of a bottle of Dr Bronner's Castile Soap, with all the random crazy saying written every which way I did eventually find a page with info about staff, and Abby is listed as "Director, Choreographer, Instructor" while all the other teachers list what classes they teach. I think Abby does not teach any dance classes, she drives the organization, creates the crappy dances, and probably does some one-on-one coaching for the dancers in the company. All in all - ICK.

Click to expand...

I read on another website that Abby Lee's main qualification for teaching dance was.....her mother was the first owner of the dance school.

I also notice that the horrific website goes on and on about the hundreds of successful professional dancers the school has produced, but seems to have overlooked actually saying who any of them are or naming any of the shows or events they have been part of.

I also notice that the horrific website goes on and on about the hundreds of successful professional dancers the school has produced, but seems to have overlooked actually saying who any of them are or naming any of the shows or events they have been part of.

I read on another website that Abby Lee's main qualification for teaching dance was.....her mother was the first owner of the dance school.

Click to expand...

That really irked me: My dance teacher died this year (she was 88) but had a short history on Broadway and dancing for soldiers in the USO before moving with her husband and starting her own school. She was able to show us the steps herself and project authority without raising her voice or pitting one girl against the other. Most of all she was so good at finding something positive to say about every participant. Her glass was always half full. I took tap from her for 10 years and truly enjoyed it. I see these girls on this show and most of them look like they would rather be elsewhere. I see Abby Lee as a menace and the mothers are her enablers.

That really irked me: My dance teacher died this year (she was 88) but had a short history on Broadway and dancing for soldiers in the USO before moving with her husband and starting her own school. She was able to show us the steps herself and project authority without raising her voice or pitting one girl against the other. Most of all she was so good at finding something positive to say about every participant. Her glass was always half full. I took tap from her for 10 years and truly enjoyed it. I see these girls on this show and most of them look like they would rather be elsewhere. I see Abby Lee as a menace and the mothers are her enablers.